The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) is the North Carolina affiliate of the national Democratic Party in the United States. It is headquartered in the historic Goodwin house, which is located in the downtown area of Raleigh at 220 Hillsborough Street.[1]

The second party system emerged from a divide in the Democratic-Republican party in 1828. They split off into two groups, the Democrats, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whigs. In North Carolina, people from the west and northeast supported the Whigs mainly because they wanted education and internal improvements to help with the economy. Meanwhile, Eastern North Carolina was dominated by wealthy planters who tended to oppose activist government. Over time, the Democrats slowly came to support many of the Whig policies on internal improvements. For the first time in history voters were splitting off into one of the two parties. In the 1850s the Whigs were split by the issue of slavery. Former Confederates and Whigs eventually formed the Conservative Party and opposed the reconstruction policies enacted by the U.S. Congress following the Civil War.[2] By 1870, the two main parties were the Conservatives (who changed their name to "Democratic-Conservatives"[3] and then to Democrats by 1876), and the Republicans (GOP).[4]

North Carolina was a state that from 1900-1960's was mainly Democratic.[5] But affiliations in the latter half of the 20th century changed. Surveys taken 1968-1992 asked the public if they considered themselves Democrats or Republicans. Those identifying themselves as Democrats dropped from 60% to less than 40%. At the same time, people identifying with Republicans rose from 20% to 40%.[6] From 1980-2004, the Republican nominee for the presidency won the state.

In spite of the largely conservative bent of North Carolina's politics, a number of liberal Democrats, such as Terry Sanford and John Edwards, have been elected to represent the state at the federal level. Edwards was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004. The popular conservative Elizabeth Dole, the wife of Republican Senator and Presidential candidate Bob Dole - and a one-time presidential candidate herself - was defeated for reelection in 2008 by Kay Hagan, the same year Barack Obama carried the state in his victory over Republican John McCain by a margin of less than one half of a percentage point.[7]

North Carolina Democrats scored impressive victories in the 2006 general elections, increasing their majorities in both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly and defeating incumbent Republican Congressman Charles H. Taylor. In addition, most candidates backed by Democrats in the non-partisan races for the North Carolina Supreme Court and the North Carolina Court of Appeals were elected. These victories came despite controversies surrounding Jim Black, a Democrat and former Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives. The State Board of Elections ruled that Black's campaign illegally accepted corporate contributions and checks with the payee line left blank. He pleaded guilty to a federal corruption charge, after denying charges through the November 2006 election. He won re-election by just seven votes in a heavily Democratic district, but resigned from office in 2007.[8][9]

In 2010, however, Republicans swept North Carolina, taking control of both houses of the General Assembly for the first time since 1896, reelecting Richard Burr to a second term by double digits, and unseating incumbent Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge.

The state party chair is Patsy Keever, who was elected in 2015. The chair is elected by and leads the state Executive Committee, a body of more than 700 Democratic Party leaders and activists from all 100 counties, which governs the party.[11]Zack Hawkins is the first vice chair, Veleria Levy is the second vice chair, Andy Ball is the third vice chair and Melvin Williams is the secretary.[12]